Custom Tuck Top Mailer Boxes
A tuck top mailer folds up from flat, holds itself shut with a front flap, and is sealed with one sticker. No tape, no gun, no training. For a small operation packing orders on a kitchen table that is not a minor convenience — it is most of the reason this build exists.
- Build
- Tuck top mailer; winged roll-end version for heavier contents
- Board
- E flute for light contents, B flute as the working default
- Outside, inside, or both; digital or litho-laminated
Get a price for Tuck Top Mailer Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
How it closes, and where that closure fails
The lid folds over and a front flap tucks down inside the front wall. Friction holds it, and a sticker or a strip of tape across the join makes it tamper-evident.
The failure is always the same: an overfilled box. If the contents reach the top, the lid cannot lie flat, the tuck cannot reach its slot, and the flap sits proud and catches on everything in the sorting network. Leave 10 mm of headroom and this build is extremely reliable.
A tuck flap that will not seat is a sizing problem, not a board problem. Size to the filled height including void fill.
Against a full mailer with wings
Weight is the deciding factor. Below about 2 kg a plain tuck top is fine. Above that the winged version is worth the extra folding time, because the wings double the side wall where a stacked parcel presses hardest.
| Tuck top | Fastest to assemble, cleanest front face, no tape needed |
|---|---|
| Roll end tuck top with wings | Stronger side walls, better for weight, slower to fold |
| Shipper with tape | Cheapest board per box, worst unboxing, needs a tape gun |
| Book wrap | Only for flat contents; adjusts to thickness |
The inside is the surface that sells
This box is opened from the top with the whole inner face visible at once, and printing the inside is a second pass on board you have already bought — the cheapest branded square footage in an ecommerce operation.
A message, a pattern or a care instruction on the inside of the lid is read by every single customer. An insert card is read by fewer, costs more, and gets thrown away first.
Board grade against what is actually in it
For most ecommerce, B flute with a white outer and a printed inner is the specification that balances survival and appearance. E flute looks better and dents more.
- E flute: thin, prints beautifully, right for anything light and unbreakable.
- B flute: the working default; noticeably more crush resistance for a little more board.
- Kraft outer: hides scuffs, limits color, costs less.
- White outer: full color and photographic, and every mark shows.
Making it work for returns
A second adhesive strip below the first lets the customer reseal the same box and send it back, which for apparel and footwear removes a whole second box from the operation and takes a decision away from the customer.
It only works if the first opening does not destroy the closure — so a tear strip and a returns strip have to be designed together rather than added separately. The wider set of construction choices is in our mailer box notes.
Sizing, and the money in it
Carriers price on volume as much as weight, so a mailer that is 20 mm too tall in every direction can push an entire product line into a more expensive band. Three well-chosen sizes usually cover a small catalog better than six loosely chosen ones.
Fewer sizes also means fewer part numbers, better unit prices at each size, and less shelf space in the packing area — which for most small businesses is the real constraint.
Tuck Top Mailer Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Build
- Tuck top mailer; winged roll-end version for heavier contents
- Board
- E flute for light contents, B flute as the working default
- Outside, inside, or both; digital or litho-laminated
- Closure
- Front tuck plus a seal sticker; return strip optional
- Assembly
- Ships flat, folds up by hand, no tape required
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to four colors straight onto the liner; litho-lamination where the box needs full color or a photograph.
- Color
- Flat colors on kraft. Full color needs a white top liner or a laminated sheet, because brown shifts every color warm.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1.5 mm. The flute compresses, so corrugated runs wider than folding board.
- Tooling
- No die on a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter. Die-cut mailers and trays need one, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade liners and a vented build where the box carries hot food.
- Sustainability
- High recycled content through liners and flute as standard, and the box recycles whole if it is sealed with paper tape.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build tuck top mailer boxes on
Corrugated is a fluted sheet glued between two liners, and the flute decides nearly everything: how it prints, how it dents, how high it stacks. These are the grades we run.
E flute
About 1.5 mm. Prints well and folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes, mailers and light shippers.
1.5 mm, single wallB flute
About 3 mm. The working default for parcels — takes print reasonably and stacks reasonably. Most shipping boxes are B.
3 mm, single wallC flute
About 4 mm. More cushioning than B, slightly less stacking strength per weight. Common on grocery and produce cases.
4 mm, single wallBC double wall
B and C glued together, about 7 mm. Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over roughly 15 kg.
7 mm, double wallKraft liner
Brown, strong, absorbent. One or two flat colors flexo print well on it; photographs drink into the brown and go muddy.
Outer and inner linerWhite top liner
A bleached outer liner for full-color print on corrugated. Costs more and marks more easily than kraft.
Outer liner onlyRecycled-content corrugated
High post-consumer fiber through liners and flute. The default for shippers; a slightly greyer brown and no loss of strength at grade.
All flutesCoated and water-resistant
A coating or a wax-free barrier liner for damp stores and cold chains. Check the recycling stream before printing a claim on it.
B and C fluteNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Corrugated takes fewer finishes than folding board, and the ones it takes it takes well.
Flexo on kraft
One or two flat colors straight onto brown. Cheap, fast, honest.
Litho-lamination
An offset sheet glued to the flute: full color and photographs on a shipper.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance with no film, so the box still recycles whole.
White top print
Full color flexo on a bleached liner; brighter, and it marks more easily.
Inside print
A second pass on the inner liner — the panel a customer sees first.
Printed tape seal
The brand applied at the last moment, on paper tape that recycles with the box.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a corrugated box against the carrier, not the catalog: tuck top mailer boxes
Corrugated is cut to your internal size, so the box goes round the product rather than the product going into a stock size. That is where the money is: a box 20 mm smaller each way is often a whole postage band cheaper.
- Internal dimensions
- Length, width and depth of the space you need. Board thickness is added outside that, and the flute is thicker than people expect.
- Clearance and void fill
- 5–10 mm a side for a rigid product. Size it properly and you need no void fill at all, which is cheaper and better received.
- Stacking
- Tell us how high the boxes stack on a pallet or a shelf. Edge crush grade is specified from that, not guessed.
- Weight
- The contents weight sets the flute and the liner grade. Over about 15 kg we move to double wall.
- Score allowance
- Corrugated needs more room at the folds than boxboard. The dieline accounts for it; a box drawn from flat dimensions comes out tight.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1.5 mm on corrugated, wider than folding board because the flute compresses.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Tuck Top Mailer Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about tuck top mailer boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes, printed inside, outside or both.
Do I need tape?
No. The tuck holds it shut and a sticker seals it. Tape is only there if you want a second tamper indication.
Why will my lid not tuck in?
The box is overfilled. Size to the filled height including void fill and leave about 10 mm of headroom.
Is printing the inside expensive?
A second print pass and no extra board, which makes it the cheapest branded surface on this build.
E flute or B flute?
E flute prints better and dents more easily. B flute is right for anything you would be upset to see damaged.
Can the customer reseal it?
With a second adhesive strip below the first, yes — and in apparel that removes a whole second pack from every return.
Do I need tape?
No. The tuck holds it shut and a sticker seals it. Tape is only there if you want a second tamper indication.
Why will my lid not tuck in?
The box is overfilled. Size to the filled height including void fill and leave about 10 mm of headroom.
Is printing the inside expensive?
It is a second print pass and no extra board, which makes it the cheapest branded surface you can buy on this build.
E flute or B flute?
E flute prints better and dents more easily. B flute is the right default for anything you would be upset to see damaged.
Same range
